Page 9 of The Hero She Loves

He sounded sure, but Vander had told her that Parker Conroy was a good man with an unshakable sense of right and wrong. Clearly, he’d been through a lot, and she guessed that there were more scars that she couldn’t see.

Maybe he wasn’t the man Vander had known anymore.

She hoped that wasn’t true.

She’d left the bait, and she hoped that eventually, he’d take it.

Gah, that meant she’d have to wait. And she hated waiting, especially knowing that Olson was out there.

She headed for the front door.

“Wait, you forgot your map,” Parker said.

She looked over her shoulder. “Keep it.”

That brown gaze bored into her. She wondered what secrets a man like Parker Conroy had. What he kept hidden under that contained exterior of his.

She headed back to her vehicle, praying that he would cave on his decision not to help her.

The clock was ticking.

CHAPTER THREE

Parker paced his small living room. Right then, he wished it was bigger because just a few strides kept bringing him to the wood log wall. He swiveled and paced back.

Night had fallen, and a bird was hooting somewhere outside.

All he could think about was Kyle Olson.

He had a clear image of the guy from their time in Ghost Ops. Olson had reddish-brown hair, a short beard, and an unmemorable face. He just looked like a regular guy.

But he wasn’t. He was a killer.

The man was out there.Somewhere. A danger to anyone he had contact with.

The man had been an asshole when Parker had known him. Rude, aggressive, violent. Vander had been instrumental in getting him removed from Ghost Ops.

And now he’d turned into a rapist and killer.

Fuck.

Park pressed his hands to the back of his neck and stared out the window at the dense darkness. The marshals wouldn’t catch him. He’d been caught once and he wouldn’t let it happen again.

The thought of Jenna Sheridan anywhere near Olson froze Park’s blood.

She was tough, but Olson wouldn’t follow the rules.

Park could find him. Jenna was right about that. He could think like Olson, predict what he’d do next.

Annoyance cut through him. He didn’t want to get involved.

When he’d woken up in a hospital bed after he’d escaped his captors, he’d known it was time to get out. Good soldiers had died, Park had failed to save them, and then he’d endured weeks of torture. Weeks of being beaten, cut, and burned. His head was too full of dark shit for him to continue as a soldier.

Maybe if he’d stayed in, he would’ve turned into a Kyle Olson.

He growled. He wasn’t anything like fucking Olson.

On the table, his cellphone vibrated. He glared at it. He got the odd call, but mostly he ignored them.

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